[* It is more probable, that these trees are able to resist the fire better than the others.]
There were marks of fire almost every where; and in many places the earth was covered with ashes. Where it was not burnt, there was plenty of grass, ferns like those of Europe, sorrel, and alléluia. From the few animals seen, it was thought that the fires made by the natives near the coast, drove them inland. The shooters met with a tiger cat, and saw many holes in the ground, like those of a warren. They killed crows, blackbirds, thrushes, doves, a white-bellied paroquet whose plumage resembled that of the same bird at the River Amazons, and several kinds of sea birds, principally pelicans, and the black-bodied red bill.
The climate was cold, although in the end of summer; and it excited surprise, that the savages could go naked; the more so, as the nearest approach to houses consisted of branches of trees, set up behind the fire places to break off the wind. The many heaps of shells seemed to bespeak, that the usual food of these people was muscles and other shell fish.
Many large rays were caught by the French, as also sea cats, old wives, and several other fish whose names were not known. They found also plenty of cray-fish, lobsters, very large crabs, and good oysters; and the curious picked up sea stars, sea eggs, and a variety of fine and rare shells.
Finding he was only losing time in searching for water in this wild country, captain Marion determined to make sail for New Zealand, where he hoped to succeed better, and also to obtain masts for the Castries. He accordingly left Van Diemen's Land on the 10th of March; and the account of it concludes with the observation that they had very bad weather on the west coast, but on the east side the sky was much clearer and winds more moderate.
The chart of Mons. Crozet, which accompanies the voyage, appears, though on a very small scale, to possess a considerable degree of exactness in the form of the land. The wide opening, called Storm Bay, is distinctly marked; as is another bay to the westward, with several small islands in it, the easternmost of which are the Boreel's Eylanden of Tasman.
FURNEAUX. 1773.
A year after Marion had quitted Frederik Hendrik's Bay, Van Diemen's Land was visited by captain TOBIAs FURNEAUX, in His Majesty's ship Adventure. He made the South-west Cape on March 9, and steered eastward, close to the islands and rocks called Maatsuyker's, by Tasman; and behind which lay a bold shore, which seemed to afford several anchoring places. Some of these rocks resembled, says captain Furneaux, "the Mewstone, particularly one which we so named, about four or five leagues E. S. E. ½ E. off the above cape, which Tasman has not mentioned, or laid down in his draughts."* This is nevertheless the lion-head-shaped island, particularly mentioned by Tasman, as lying twelve miles out from the coast: the mistake arose from the imperfection of the accounts. After passing Maatsuyker's Isles, captain Furneaux sent a boat to the main land, on the 10th, and the people found places where the natives had been., and where pearl scallop shells were scattered about. "The soil seemed to be very rich; the country well clothed with wood, particularly on the lee sides of the hills; plenty of water which falls from the rocks in beautiful cascades, for two or three hundred feet perpendicular, into the sea; but they did not see the least sign of any place to anchor in with safety."
[* Cook's Second Voyage, Vol. I. p. 109.]
On the return of the boat, captain Furneaux made sail, and came to "the westernmost point of a very deep bay, called by Tasman Stormy Bay. From the west to the east point of this bay there are several small islands, and black rocks which we called the Friars." From the Friars he followed the coast N. by E. four leagues, and the same evening anchored in ADVENTURE BAY. "We first took this bay," says the captain, "to be that which Tasman called Frederik Henry Bay; but afterwards found that his is laid down five leagues to the northward."